MediaTel Mobile event: Operators, what is your role?

Mobile operators are in a unique position, having a direct relationship with customers and in turn, a wealth of information about them, but are they using it to their advantage?

Speaking at MediaTel Groups’ Come on Mobile… Stand Up and Deliver! event on Friday, Jeremy Copp, vice president, mobile, Europe at comScore, said operators need to utilise this opportunity, sharing their consumer knowledge and understanding with marketers looking to target mobile users.

The panel said there is a potential to pass user profile data to advertisers in real-time, which will boost location-based targeting and geo-fencing.

Copp said operators already have details on consumer browsing and can easily see what a user is looking at (and where they are) – “the information is available and the potential is there”. Copp is confident this kind of exchange will happen this year.

However, Karen Egan, head of the telecoms equity research team at RBS, said that while it is technically possible, “I wonder whether it is enough to move the dial significantly?”

For Egan, operators need to focus on their existing clients rather than partnerships. She believes operators should encourage more data usage and upgrades, especially to pre-pay customers. “Operators need to encourage users to spend more – entice them with offers, make them want a smartphone and more data. That will move the dial,” she said.

Marc Overton, VP of wholesale & M2M at Everything Everywhere, agreed, saying “it is about retaining the customers you have and selling them more”.

Overton added that he is “not welcoming [Ofcom’s] termination cuts… it will impact us, profit wise”.

Operator loyalty was also in question, with the chair Simon Andrews (founder of addictive!) asking whether delegates would switch to a different operator to get the handset they wanted? The answer was a resounding yes.

The panel also discussed possibility of operators joining forces with content owners to offer premium tariffs, which include a certain number of apps and downloads (including pay-walled content). Graeme Oxby, managing director, mobile, fixed telephony & national broadband at Virgin Media, said: “We know who the end user is so the model could evolve but it’s not hugely profitable.”